Safe.



w. THOMAS).

SAFE.

APPLIGAMON FILED 21:13.25, 1910.

Patented 0@t.25,191o.

WALTER THOMAS, 0F VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

SAFE.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25,1910.

Application filed February 25, 1910. Serial No. 545,927.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER THOMAS, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Vancouver, in the vcounty of Vancouverand Provinceof British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to revoluble spherical safes.

The object of my invention is to provide a fire-proof revoluble safewhich may be raised from its seat in a pedestal and turned, or partiallyrevolved, so as to place its door in the pedestal opening and thenlowered onto its seat making a tight joint therewith, and to provideoperating mechanism which may be controlled in the pedestal having alocking door, so as to secure eXtra safety and make it impossible forthe safe t0 be tampered with by a burglar or other unauthorized person.

The matter constituting my invention will be defined in the claims.

I will now describe the details of construction of my improved safe byreference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents avertical section through the safe and pedestal on line ac w,

Fig. 2. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of.

the safe and a vertical section of the pedestal at right angles to theview in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of the pedestal,showing the supporting wheels and operating mechanism. Fig. 4 representsan elevation of the safe and a vertical section of the pedestalcontaining modifications in the operating mechanism. Figs. 5 and 6represent, respectively, a vertical section and a horizontal section ofa portion of the ped estal, showing a modification of gearing. Fig. 7represents a vertical transverse section, showing another modificationof the gearing. Fig. 8 represents a vertical section on enlarged scaleon line 8 8, Fig. 1. Fig. 9 represents a top plan view of the same. Fig.10 represents a vertical section on line 10-10, Fig. 9.

The body of the safe 1 is made spherical and preferably of cast steeland is made with an extra thick and heavy wall 6 at and around the doorway and is supported on a pedestal 2 provided with raising and loweringmechanism. At the thickened portion 6 of the body is provided a door way3, having offsets, as shown, in which is fitted a door 4, havingcorresponding offsets in its periphery and made extra thick and heavy ascompared with the opposite wall of the body. The door is provided with aremovable handle 5 which may be readily applied to it or detached, asrequired. The knob 7 of a locking device may also be sunk centrally inthe door. At diametrically opposite points within the spherical body arexed supporting trunnions 8 for supporting a swinging frame and casing 9which is provided centrally with journals 9EL tting over the trunnions.The frame or casing 9 may be divided into suitable compartments forreceiving various articles or boxes. The frame or cas ing, j ournaled asdescribed, will remain upright when the sphere is revolved, so that thecontents may not be disturbed in the revolving operation.

At a suitable distance apart and at either side ofthe greatestcircumference in the eX- terior surface of the sphere are formed twoshort grooves 10, which may extend across the door, as shown in Fig. 2.These grooves may be provided with teeth below the eX- terior surface ofthe sphere for engaging toothed wheels in the pedestal, but they mayalso be left plain and simply receive the plain edges of wheels in thepedestal. These grooves are made only sufliciently long, a quarter areof a circle, more or less, to enable the sphere to be turned with itsdoor into the opening of the pedestal, so that both the door and groovesshall be within the outer face of the pedestal when the sphere is turnedand lowered upon its seat forthe night, and so that a perfectly tightjoint shall be made all around the periphery of the sphere at itsjunction with the edestal. In the pedestal may be provide an inclosingcompartment 11 for containing certain operating parts and thiscompartment is provided with a door-way 11a provided with offsets forreceiving a door 12, which may be hinged or otherwise connected to thewall of the pedestaland capable of being locked. The door may be madequite small and practically secret. The compartment 11 is also providedin its inner wall with a slot 13 for passage of the lever bar 24. Atopposite sides in the pedestal are tted two pair of transversesupporting bars 14, suitably spaced apart and strengthened by a centralbar of metal 14a. Evidently the spaced bars 14 and central bar 148Lcould be swaged from a single piece of metal, 4but they maybe built. upof separate parts if desired. Vithin the spaced outer ends ofthe bars'14, a-re ournaled rollers or wheels 15 adapted to fit in the grooves10. These wheels may be toothed or have plain peripheries as desired. Inthe con-k struc-tion shown in Fig. 3, four of 'these' wheels, mounted intwo pair of bars 14, are shown. The spacing bar 14a is formed with acentral opening in which is fitted the upper end of a piston rod 16,vhaving a collar 16u. This rod .extends down into a h ydiaailic cylinder18 and is provided at its lower yend with a piston 17, having a suitableannular packing. A rubber cushion 18a is preferably placed in the upperhead of the ycylinder 18. In lthe lower end rof vthe cylinder isprovided -a water inlet a yand in the lupper end .an air vent Z).Between Ythe two hydraulic cylinders is fixed a valve sta-nd 21 withwhich is connected a water supply pipe 19 and a pipe 20 which connectsby branches with lthe lower ends of the cylinders at the ports a. Anexhaust or discharge pipe 22 also `connects with the valve stand forwaste water. A stem 23 connects with the valve and at its upper end ispivotally connected to the hand lever 24 which, at `its inner end, ispivotal'ly connected to a bracket which .may be secured to t-he valvestand, as shown. The hand lever 24 passes through the slot 13 andterminates in the compartment 11, as shown in Fig. 1. The shaft 25 vofoperating gearing is valso journaled in the compartment 11 and has asquared projecting' end for application of a wrench. `On this shaft isfixed la bevel .pin ion `26, Fig. 8, which meshes with' a similar pinionQ7 on a vertical sleeve shaft 27a. ln this shaft is inserted laninternal shaft 9.8 the two shafts being connected by a spline joint sothat the shaft carrying the upper bevel pinion 28 may be reciprocated inthe sleeve shaft 27a. On the shaft 28 is fixed a collar 2d which isconnected vby a bracket 32 to .one of Vthe cross `bars 14 so :as toraise the shaft and bevel gear 2r a when the cross bars are raised forkeeping the pinions 28a i and 29 in engagement. is fixed on a crossshaft 30 on which is fixed the toothed wheels 15 in the cross bar-s 14,as shown in Fig. 3. These rollers are pref- A bevel pinion 29 erablymounted in vball bearings in a well` lllOXVll 11131111611.

It will be understood that a wrench having a squared socket and crank yymay be applied to the squared end of the shaft 9.5 when the door 12 isopened and that by .turning the shaft 25 and the connecting gearing 4thewheels 15 will be turned,

which in turn carries toothed wheels Q9 which engage with the teeth onthe wheels 15. 'This simpl-ities somewhat the number of parts in thegearing and will be operative if the teeth of the toothed wheels Q9 andof the wheels 15 aie made long enough to keep in engagement when thesafe is slightly raised from its seat, as about oneeighth of an inch.The gearing may be further modified by extending the transverse shaft80, Fig. 8, directly through the inner wall of the pedestal into a.recess Q as shown in Fig. 7 and there providing it with a squared endfor .application of a wrench. This recess is closed by a secret locking.door 12a.

The compartment 11 vmay be niade detachable from .the side wall of theCpedestal and be attached by brackets 31 directly to the `transif'erselbars 14 so as to rise and fall therewith, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.The gearing remains similar to that shown 'in 8 though no sleeve shaftor collar will Ybe required. The pedestal is inade with an inwardlybeveled annular seat suited .to the contour .of the spherical safe, soas to make la .tight fit, .as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Instead of vtwo .l.i \,idraulic cylinders, one may be used, especiallyin a small house safe and lthe fran-ie or bars 14 si-ipporting therollers` will be modified accordingly. A sinr ple hydraulic elevatingjack or `a jack .operated with a screw may be used in the pedestal forraising the sphere.

My spherical revoluble safe is especially adapted for domestic use landmay be nia-de of a small size suited for such purpose, as indicated inFig. 4. rfhis safe for domestic ruse may be highly ornamented and sur-Vmounted by a `clock 41 or a vase or other ornamental figure. The sphereis provided with a set of lugs 45 for supporting a clock when the door4a is in posi-tion to be opened,

Fig. 4, and with an electric alarm 42; also the interior of thepedestal.. In this cradle are jou-rna-led or otherwise mountedantifriction rollers or balls 15a. At the bottom of the pedestal isfixed an inclined plane 35 fupon which is mounted a traveling wedgeshaped device 36, having two pair of antifriction rollers, as shown, onepair bearing upon .the inclined plane 35 and the other .pair supportingthe cradle 34. In this wedge Vshaped device is fixed a shaft 37, theouter end of which is screw threaded and over this portion is fitted aninternally screw threaded sleeve 38 which is held by collars in anopening in the pedestal and is provided with a squared outer end forapplication of a wrench. In the wall of the pedestal is made a recess 2binto which the end of the shaft 251 and the end of the sleeve 38project, so that by opening the door l2, the said shaft and sleeve maybe turned by application of a wrench. The sleeve shaft 38 will first beturned for drawing the wedge shaped device 36 a short distance up theinclined plane, thereby raising the cradle 34: and sphere a shortdistance, as about oneeighth of an inch, so that the sphere `shall clearits beveled seat. The shaft 251 may now be rotated for revolving thesphere on the rollers l5a until its door la and groove l0a are broughtwithin the opening of the pedestal. Before revolving the sphere la, theclock or other ornamental figure will be detached from the lugs L.L5 andafterl the sphere has been revolved to the closed position, the clock orvase may be placed at the top of the sphere between the projecting lugs45a, Fig. 4l, which will be at the top. At one side or at the back ofthe safe and pedestal is extended upward a water pipe 39, having at thetop a fusible plug and sprinkler l0 for automatically showering water onthe safe in case of fire. The sphere laM having been rotated with thedoor la within the pedestal and the cloclr or vase 41 being in positionat the lugs 45a and over the electric alarm 42, the removal of the clockor vase either by hand or in the act of turning the sphere, would startan electric alarm which would continue ringing until stopped by hand.

Various arrangements of water supply devices for showering water overthe safe in case of fire may be used, but such devices do not form partof my present invention.

Since the door of the safe is turned into the pedestal when the safe isout of use and the door of the pedestal locked and the means foroperating the gearing in the pedestal are removed, unusual safety isprovided against burglars or any unauthorized tampering with the safe.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a revoluble safe having a door, of a pedestalhaving a seat at the top and an opening in its wall, means therein forraising the safe from, and lowering on, its seat, and means for rotatingit to bring its door into the top opening of the pedestal, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination with a revoluble safe, of a hollow pedestal having atthe top a seat for the safe, means for raising and lowering the safe,means for rotating it, controlling devices in the pedestal connectingwith the raising and lowering, and revolving mechanism, substantially asdescribe 3. The combination with a revoluble safe,

of a hollow pedestal having a seat therefor,-

means in the pedestal for raising and lowering the safe, means forrevolving the safe, a door in the pedestal giving access to thecontrolling devices by which the mecha' nism is operated, substantiallyas described.

Il. The combination with a revoluble safe, of a hollow pedestal having aseat therefor, a movable frame in the pedestal having wheels or rollerstherein for supporting the safe, means bearing on the frame for raisingand lowering it to raise and lower the safe, and means in the pedestal'for revolv ing the safe, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a revoluble safe having a toothed rack in itsouter surface, of a hollow pedestal, a gear within it for engaging saidrack to turn the safe, and means in the pedestal for raising the safefrom its seat so that it may be revolved and for lowering it on its seatafter being revolved, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a revoluble safe, of a hollow pedestal having aseat for the safe, a hydraulic raising and lowering de vice, a framecarrying wheels or rollers for supporting the safe and means forrevolving the safe when raised from its seat, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER THOMAS.

Witnesses:

A. E. GALPIN, C. N. CORNELLQ

